A fitness company with eight gyms located across Vancouver Island has filed for bankruptcy.
According to a statement on its website, VI Fitness Centres Inc. filed for bankruptcy on Tuesday, May 1 and has permanently closed all its locations.
“Despite the company’s best efforts, our business model was no longer sustainable due to an increasingly competitive landscape,” reads the statement.
VI Fitness has entered into bankruptcy and will be closing all locations effective immediately. We sincerely regret the impact on our employees, members, and partners. Appreciate everyone’s support and for making us a part of your community over the years. https://t.co/ifRDZnQuTN
— V.I. Fitness Centres (@VIFCentres) May 2, 2018
“We can no longer afford to keep the business operating at a loss. We sincerely regret the impact our closure will have on our members, employees and business partners, and truly appreciate their support over the years.”
The statement recommends that patrons and employees of VI Fitness contact the Bowra Group, a licenced insolvency trustee firm in Vancouver.
Read More: Patrons, staff shocked to find VI Fitness facilities permanently closed
VI Fitness had four locations in Greater Victoria, two in Nanaimo, one in Courtenay, and one in Campbell River.
A moving company could be seen at the Courtenay location on Wednesday morning, emptying the gym of cardio equipment. Signs pinned to the gym’s door explained the bankruptcy situation and told employees to contact the Bowra Group about possible recovery of unpaid wages.
According to personal trainer and fitness instructor Carol Hardy, who worked there, employees were only notified of the bankruptcy around midnight the night before. She said the Courtenay facility (which was for women only) employed “three personal trainers, [and] probably six people at the front desk,” as well as 10 or 12 group fitness instructors.
She believed the gym — which opened in 2004 — had “hundreds” of patrons.
“Obviously we’re very disappointed and really sad,” said Hardy. “Sorry to have lost a job, but more sorry about missing all the ladies who come here every day. So many success stories.”
Many VI Fitness patrons throughout Vancouver Island only learned about the bankruptcy when they arrived for morning workouts on Wednesday. On the gyms’ Facebook pages, some patrons wrote that they had already paid their membership fees for May.
“It’s been a wonderful fitness club, I’m really disappointed,” said Phyllis Campanello, a long-time patron of VI Fitness’s gym in Oak Bay. “It’s a sad and story that this has happened because this has also been a community meet here.
“We had no idea anything like this was going on, I’m devastated.”
—With files from Nicole Crescenzi/Oak Bay News
